The Oxford Psalms Network
About
This network was funded from 2016 to 2018.
‘The Oxford Psalms Network’ brought into conversation scholars working on the Psalms in related fields such as Theology, Reception History, History of Interpretation, History, Art History, Music and ancient and modern languages such as Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, Old Irish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
This Network examined the wider impact of the Psalms in the development of Judaeo-Christian culture, language and identity from the earliest times to the present day, encouraging interaction between academics, curators, and the wider public through a series of activities and outputs by academic and other partners. At the same time, it pointed to ways that scholars working on the history of Psalms in Judaeo-Christian culture might fruitfully collaborate with scholars working on the impact of the Psalms on other world religions.
A series of public talks on the Psalms by artists, academics, musicians, poets and illustrators were hosted by the Network. ‘New Perspectives on the Psalms’ began in January 2017 and were ongoing and all were welcome.
Contact:
Dr Helen Appleton
Professor Susan Gillingham
susan.gillingham@theology.ox.ac.uk
Dr Francis Leneghan
People
Events
Past Events
Living the Psalms (December 2018)
Event with members of the Horspath York course
Seeing the Psalms (June 2016)
Event with Rev'd Dr Emma Pennington
Singing the Psalms (July 2016)
Event with Rev'd Dr Jonathan Arnold
Praying the Psalms (August 2016)
Event with Sr Anne Verena
The Jerusalem Temple Song in the Cantillation of Psalms 136 and 137 (February 2017)
Speaker: David Mitchell (Pro-Cathedral, Brussels)
Talk: The aim was to identify the musical values of the Masoretic te'amim (cantillation marks) of Psalm 136 by a process of inductive reasoning. Musical values were identified for each of the te'amim in Psalm 136, so that it can be sung. Reference and comparison was also made to Psalm 137.
How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land? (February 2017)
Speaker: Jonathan Arnold (University of Oxford)
Part of the 'New Perspectives on the Psalms: A Series of Public Lectures'.
'"How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land?" Theological Turmoil and the use of Psalms in Early-Modern English Music' . The lecture explored the work of several early-modern European composers of sacred music and how their musical settings of psalm texts expressed their innermost religious sentiments.
What is reception history and how do we do it? (February 2017)
Speaker: Sue Gillingham (University of Oxford)
A seminar on 'What is Reception History and How Do We Do It? Jewish and Christian Responses to Psalm 8'
The Psalms and the Mixed Life (February 2017)
Speaker: Mike Kuczynski (Tulane University)
This seminar explored the dual private and public (interior- and exterior-directed) nature of the poetry of the Psalms, as prayer and polemic, from the Old English through the Middle English periods.
The Psalms and the Qur'an (March 2017)
Speakers: Dr Danny Crowther and Dr Shirin Shafaie
This lecture explored how this combination of resonance and dissonance enables the Psalms to be used as a key to understanding the Qur’an and the Qur’an to be used as a key to understanding the Psalms. Dr Shirin Shafaie and Dr Danny Crowther worked together as co-editors of a collection of fifteen papers written by a selected team of established and upcoming Muslim, Christian and Agnostic scholars: Reading the Bible in the Context of Islam (Routledge, forthcoming).
Singing the Psalms in sixteenth century Germany (April 2017)
Speaker: Professor Henrike Lähnemann
The lecture looked at the personalised Psalters as well as the popular appeal of congregational singing of hymns based on Psalms, taking in as most prominent example Luther’s versification of Psalm 46 in‚ Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott‘.
'"So will I ever sing praises to your name" Psalms in Contemporary Music' (May 2017)
Speaker: Bill Goodman
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Six-part series of talks on the important role that architecture – both physical and representational – played in the imaginative, artistic, and theological life of early medieval England.
The talks ranged from the layout and construction of actual early medieval buildings to the symbolic use of architecture in literary texts in order to demonstrate the pervasive importance of architecture in early medieval thought.
The Architectural Imagination in the Early Medieval Period (May 2017)
Speakers: Dr Hannah Bailey and Dr Daniel Thomas, both lecturers in Old and Middle English literature
The Long Home in the Narrow House (May 2017)
Speaker: Dr Helen Appleton, Career Development Fellow in Old and Early Medieval English
Shaping buildings and society in Anglo-Saxon England (May 2017)
Speaker: Dr Cliff Sofield, Anglo-Saxon Archaeologist
Dr Sofield considered whether the way in which people shaped their buildings in the early medieval period mirrored the way they shaped their society, and considered the questions of ‘funerals’ for Anglo-Saxon buildings.
Reading the Church through 12th-Century Eyes (May 2017)
Speaker: Karl Kinsella, Medieval Art Historian
Karl aimed to unlock the symbolic meaning of ecclesiastical architecture and discussed why the windows were like the doctors of the church and how the altar emulated the figure of Christ, amongst other things.
Holy Places, Holy People, and Holy Time: Sacred Space and the Medieval Social Imaginary (May 2017)
Speaker: Dr Mark Clavier, Vice Principal of St Stephen’s House
Drawing on the philosophy of Charles Taylor, Dr Clavier, offered a way of understanding how the interplay between sacred places (such as parish churches, monasteries, and shrines) and sacred time (daily worship and the liturgical year) shaped the medieval imagination and how people engaged with their world.
‘Set in Stone’: Constructing Christianity in the Anglo-Saxon Crypts of Hexham and Ripon (June 2017)
Speaker: Dr Meg Boulton, Art Historian
Focusing on representations and interpretations of sacred space, Dr Boulton took us into the underground world of the rare seventh-century crypts attached to the important Anglo-Saxon monastic foundations of Ripon and Hexham.
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"Devotion or a language lesson? The revision of Rolle’s English Psalter’ and ‘Englished Latin or the language of love? The revision of the Wycliffite psalter’" (May 2017)
Speakers: Professor Anne Hudson and Dr. Elizabeth Solopova
Illustrating the Psalms (June 2017)
Speaker: Roger Wagner
Lecture: Roger Wagner explored some of the reasons for this with particular reference to his own ongoing illustrated translation of the psalms.
Writing a Reception History Commentary on the Psalms (June 2017)
Speaker: Professor Susan Gillingham (University of Oxford)
Paper entitled ‘Writing a Reception History Commentary on the Psalms: Aims, Methods and Resources’
The Prophetic Word (September 2017)
Conference on The Prophetic Word: Poetry, Philosophy and Theology in Conversation.
Keynote Speakers:
- John Barton (University of Oxford) “The Hebrew Prophets: Seers or Poets?”
- Tina Beattie (University of Roehampton) “Hope as Prophecy: Interpreting the Silence of Holy Saturday”
- William Franke (Vanderbilt University) “Poetry as Prophecy: From Anthropological Origins to Postmodern Apocalypses”
- Małgorzata Grzegorzewska (University of Warsaw)
- Michèle Le Dœuff (ENS Paris) “Equality and Prophecy”
- Christopher Rowland (University of Oxford) ‘Diversely and in many ways God spoke by the Prophets’: the perspectives of the New Testament and the texts and images of William Blake on ‘the Prophetic Word’
- Alessandro Schiesaro (University of Manchester) “Empedocles and the Prophetic Word”
- Mona Siddiqui (University of Edinburgh) “The Poetry of Piety: Between Divine Word and Prophetic Word”
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Discussion series: Saints and Sinners: An Introduction to the Four Latin Fathers of the Church
The Cuddesdon Reredos (November 2017)
with Canon Professor Mark Chapman (Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon)
An Introduction to St. Jerome (November 2017)
With Professor Mark Edwards (Tutor in Theology, Christ Church)
An Introduction to St. Ambrose (November 2017)
With Rev'd Dr Jane Baun (Lecturer in Ethics and Church History, Rippon College Cuddesdon)
An Introduction to St. Gregory (November 2017)
With Rt Rev’d Humphrey Southern (Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon)
An Introduction to St. Augustine (November 2017)
Professor Carol Harrison (Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Christ Church)
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God is in the detail (February 2018)
New Perspectives on the Psalms
Alexander Massey, ‘“God is in the detail”: a composer’s illustrated talk on setting the psalms and crafting musical prayer.
"Patristics and late antiquity": Ptarmigan Lecture in Patristics 2018 (April 2018)
Lecture
Speaker: Professor Dame Averil Cameron (University of Oxford)
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Oxford Psalms Network – a series of nine events
Launch of Susan Gillingham's Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume 2 (May 2018)
Recovering early modern readers through Psalm marginalia (May 2018)
With Beatrice Groves
Edward Clarke, 'O high tree in the ear! A Selection of Psalms' (May 2018)
Thea Gomelauri: 'The Puzzle of Psalm 30' (June 2018)
The Oxford Psalms Network Christmas Drinks (December 2018)
Is somebody in there? Soliloquy in the Psalms (May 2019)
Prof. Dr. Alexandra Grund-Wittenberg (Philipps-Universität Marburg)
King Alfred's translation of Psalms 1–50 (September 2021)
Part of the 'Rethinking English Literary Culture in the Age of Alfred' symposium
Jane Toswell (University of Western Ontario), ‘The Psalms in the Ninth Century’
Emily Butler (John Carroll University), ‘Demarcating Tribulation in the Old English Prose Psalms’
Stephanie Clark (University of Oregon), ‘Alfred and the Economics of Self-formation through Prayer’
Oxford Interfaith Forum (February 2023)
Awake, My Soul! Psalms: 44; 57; 133; 143
Event: the Psalms in Interfaith Contexts Reading Group, combining performances of new sacred music with interfaith discussion, in partnership with Professor Delvyn Case and Deus Ex Musica.
Performed by acclaimed violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova
Commentary by Professor John Barton, FBA, Oriel & Laing Professor Emeritus of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford.
Psalms through the Centuries (February 2023)
Sue Gillingham spoke about the completion of her 25-year project, Psalms through the Centuries
Followed by a discussion on the Psalms Network ‘going forwards’.
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Pelicans, Shepherds & Palaces (January 2018)
A concert & talk on psalm-setting, with Howard Goodall
Performers: Worcester College Chapel Choir and guests, directed by Thomas Allery and supported by Dr. Matthew Cheung Salisbury.
Guest conductor/speaker: Howard Goodall. Howard is an EMMY, BRIT and BAFTA award-winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores, and a distinguished broadcaster.
Hosts: Professor Sue Gillingham (Faculty of Theology and Religion) with Drs. Francis Leneghan and Helen Appleton (Faculty of English).
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The recollection series – a series of four events in October, November and December 2020.
Reading the Psalms Literally or Allegorically? Reading Psalms 1&2 with some of the Church Fathers (2nd week)
Sue Gillingham, Emeritus Prof. Of the Hebrew Bible, University of Oxford
Recollections and Reality: Reflection on Homer and Boethius (3rd week)
Stephen Blackwood, founding President of Ralston College, Savannah, Georgia
Love and Cambridge Platonism at the Origins of CS Lewis’ Moral Vision (6th week)
James Bryson, Research Associate, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and Fellow of the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Platonism
Pneumatology in the pre-Nicene Church (8th week)
Joseph Hamilton, DPhil Student in Patristics at Christ Church and priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney
Why is Psalm 119 in the Psalter? (March 2020)
Book Launch: A Book of Psalms with Edward Clarke (April 2020)
Psalms discussion: Sue Gillingham, Malcolm Guite, and Roger Wagner (February 2021)
Sue Gillingham, with Malcolm Guite, poet and singer-writer, and Roger Wagner, Oxford artist, talk about the poetry of the psalms, especially Psalm 8.
Psalms for Self –Reflection (July and August 2012)
Bodleian Libraries hosted two online workshops, in partnership with Oxford University Department of Psychiatry on the topic of Psalms For Self-Reflection.
Workshop developed and facilitated by Gulamabbas Lakha, mental health researcher at the University of Oxford and ministry leader (Shaykh) with the Muslim community and Susan Gillingham, Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew Bible and Permanent Deacon at St Barnabas Church.
- Session A: developing self-knowledge (July 2021)
- Session B: building resilience Wednesday (August 2021)
PSALMS in Interfaith Contexts (August 2021)
The launch of an international Reading Group on Psalms in Interfaith Contexts to explore prayers-poems-songs from multifaith and multidisciplinary perspective. The aim of the Reading Group was to explore Psalms as a source of solace and inspiration and reflect on their role in human wellbeing, including mental health issues, and to discuss how they invite worshippers to relate to God.
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